Ariel Bender, right, gets the crowd on its feet to kick off Mott the Hoople's first U.S. tour in 45 years at the Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee. On the left is lead vocalist Ian Hunter Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The influential British rock band hasn't played a show in the States in 45 years. But there they were — Ian Hunter, Ariel Bender and Morgan Fisher — kicking off an eight-city stateside tour (their last, Hunter has said) in the same building they last played in Milwaukee in 1974 (when it was called the Milwaukee Auditorium).

Mott, Ian Hunter, left and Ariel Bender, right, from the Mott The Hoople, perform at the Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee.(Photo: Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Monday's show started the same way, too, with Hunter singing a few bars of Don McLean's "American Pie" as Fisher tickled the ivories, his right arm playfully twitching as he sang "But February made me shiver."

"Something touched me deep inside/The day the music died," Hunter sang — before adding a playful "Or did it."

And with that the band burst into the boogie swing of Mott original "The Golden Age of Rock and Roll," with guitarist Bender strutting like a peacock in his red beret and checkered pants — but with the jerking legs of a chicken — his hips wiggling and fingers jabbing the air.

Admittedly, Bender's guitar skills Monday didn't quite match his flamboyance, but there was a charm to Bender's child-like joie de vivre. And it was a thrill whenever his choppy, grimy licks erupted into dazzling heroics.

Fisher, while comparatively more restrained, also had a taste for the theatrical, with a scarf that looked like piano keys and a glass of champagne illuminated by a green light. He tossed the champagne into the air ahead of a sugary, uptempo cover of Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane."

He was an impressive piano player, too, particularly during elegant passages and an intro to B-side "Rest in Peace."

Morgan Fisher, from the Mott The Hoople, performs a solo instrumental at the Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee.(Photo: Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Hunter has said the Mott tour was a chance for his two living bandmates from the '74 lineup to get their due, and Bender and Fisher clearly relished the spotlight. Hunter himself, however, was a pretty subdued presence, until that familiar vocal style — with traces of Bob Dylan's untamed cadence and David Bowie's drama — came roaring back to life for the evening's eighth song, "Roll Away the Stone."

With support from Hunter's longtime group the Rant Band — especially James Mastro, who supplied crucial sax parts, and a lovely mandolin solo for a shimmering "I Wish I Was Your Mother" — Mott made the case for their significance Monday with enduring rock classics like “All the Way From Memphis” and the Bowie-written “All the Young Dudes.”

But it was in the less heralded material that you could see why the band influenced the likes of Queen, Cheap Trick, the Clash and many others.

That was most apparent Monday night during “Marionette,” from 1974’s “The Hoople” album. A should-have-been-classic featuring Mott at their most unpredictable, unhinged and ornate, Mott captured much of the song's mayhem, from Hunter's "I wanna get out" ravings to Bender's demented laughter.

That same quirky humor and insatiable energy emerged in a dizzying, climactic medley — which, too, was a nod to Mott's '74 set lists. It included five Mott originals, a simmering interpretation of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On," and a sprinkle of the Kinks' immortal "You Really Got Me " guitar riff — all leading up to a "Milwaukee Rocks" call and response with the capacity crowd.

"We love coming to Milwaukee,” Hunter said at the end of the hour and 40-minute set. “You’re the only place in the country where, when you get here, people thank you for coming. Nobody else does that.”

Considering Milwaukee was one of the only places in the country to see Mott live, there was good reason to be grateful.

Lead vocalist, Chan Poling for The Suburbs, is the opening act for Mott The Hopple at the Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee.(Photo: Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Opener The Suburbs was practically as large as a pee-wee soccer team — nine members in total, large enough that a couple members could afford to slow dance for most of a song. The Minneapolis-born band hit its commercial prime in the '80s, but they sounded superb Monday, creating an irresistible horn-swinging wall of sound and making an incredible case for the strength of their 21st-century material with “Hey Muse!” and “Love is the Law.”

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story misquoted Hunter's comment after "American Pie" and named the wrong song title that featured James Mastro's performance on mandolin. The story has been corrected and We regret the error.

Mott is only doing eight shows on this U.S. tour, none of them on the West Coast. And so a few fans flew in from Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle, said Doug Johnson, vice president of entertainment and sports for the Wisconsin Center District, which operates the Miller High Life Theatre.

Earlier in the day, Mott spent some time at the Milwaukee Press Club, where they received a framed proclamation from Tom Barrett announcing that Monday was Mott The Hoople Day. Hunter showed off the proclamation during the show, at the start of the encore.

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